Media claim that ROC Metropolitan Tikhon allegedly called for the forced baptism of Crimean Muslims

A Crimean Tatar news agency, with its main office in Kyiv and a branch in Ankara, published an article alleging that Metropolitan Tikhon (Shevkunov) of Simferopol and Crimea, a bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC), supposedly urged the conversion of all Crimean Muslims to Christianity. According to the publication, ROC representatives on the peninsula allegedly planned to hold discussions with Muslims, persuading them to enter into church marriages and baptize their children in the Orthodox faith. This information was reported by QIRIM.News.

Journalists from the outlet claim to have obtained a document purportedly signed by Metropolitan Tikhon, which allegedly includes a demand for lists of all married Crimean Tatar couples. Also, information about the document was spread by a number of Turkish media outlets.

However, according to the Russian Embassy in Turkey, Metropolitan Tikhon never signed such a document. Diplomats who spoke with the hierarch stated that the information being circulated is falsified.

Earlier, reports indicated that the controversial signatories of appeals to the Pentarchy regarding the «trial of Patriarch Kirill» and to the Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) regarding «autocephaly» released a statement responding to claims that the issue of persecution against the UOC had been raised by the Russian delegation during the latest round of peace talks with the Ukrainian side. The authors of the statement insist that the UOC has suffered more than any other religious group due to the actions of the Russian army, and therefore, Russia has no right to bring the issue of protecting Ukrainian believers’ rights to the international stage.